Make Sure you have the Right Retail Mix at your Spa or Massage Practice

Are you wondering why retail sales at your spa or massage practice aren’t doing better. Even with an ambitious marketing campaign and attractive visual merchandising, your retail sales may fall short if you are not carrying products your clients want for at-home use. Determining the right retail mix requires understanding your buyer and their needs. Your retail offering also needs to reflect your business whether it’s luxury, boutique, homey or sophisticated.

Start with a Survey

As a first step in building or revitalizing your retails sale, take a survey of your clients. Find out directly what kind of at-home products they are seeking – anti-aging, moisturizing, aromatherapy, etc. Compare their treatment and skin care needs against your current offering. You may find only a few of your current retail offerings meet client ongoing needs for at-home use. Demographics also play a role in product selection, especially gender and income. High end offering with an air of exclusivity may be out of reach of budget-conscious consumers on an ongoing basis.

Consider Ingredients

Match Retail to Professional Offerings

While not all professional products have a complementary retail line, many do. The professional line gives your clients an opportunity to experience the products before they even make a retail purchase, plus as you are applying the products you can talk about the ingredients, benefits and expected results.

Offer Unique Selections

Include among your offerings products that are not easily available everywhere else. Having several unique products say to your clients that you are making an extra effort to carry the best line of products for their needs. Your goal is to make sure that clients come back to your spa or massage practice to get the products they need and don’t go elsewhere.

More Steps to Boost Sales

In addition to making sure you have the right product mix, you’ll also want to:

Select Suppliers with Care

No matter how much sales potential a product has, it’s of little value if you can’t depend on shipments or consistent product quality. Your suppliers also should be able to help your retail efforts with marketing materials, promotions, seasonal incentives, buy-back programs and so forth. As you are evaluating products for retail, consider the supplier and do your homework to make sure you will get the support and partnership you need for your mutual success.

Train Staff on Sales

Don't expect products to sell themselves. Just having products on display might attract some customers, but your goal is to make retail as much a part of your offering as possible. To achieve this you and your team need to build prescription sales into your services.

The rewards of retail are significant. Make sure your retail offering is a key component of your spa or massage practice with the just the right products.